


Shape of the wind

by vanishing_apples



Category: Granblue Fantasy (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, Romantic Fluff, thank you ogata-san
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-25
Updated: 2020-02-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:33:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22899574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vanishing_apples/pseuds/vanishing_apples
Summary: Grimnir's appreciation for fire came as a surprise to Shiva.
Relationships: Grimnir/Shiva (Granblue Fantasy)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 84





	Shape of the wind

Well, this would be a first. 

Shiva had returned to his crew’s makeshift camp from scouting duties only to find that a fire had already been lit in his absence. A safe distance away from the blaze, the Singularity, girl in blue, and red dragon laid huddled together under one blanket in peaceful slumber. Opposite of them sat his remaining companion, gleefully humming a discordant tune to himself as he fed dry wood into the fire with an inexplicable enthusiasm. Ruby and emerald eyes glimmer under their amber sheen, brimming with all the whimsy of the golden sparks swirling into the night.

“God of war-”

“Eek!” 

Grimnir’s entire body jolted. Quick as an arrow, Nagaraja glided down from Shiva’s neck and into the wind primal’s vision, quieting his hands from reaching for his lance. From behind Grimnir came the familiar, warm timbre of Shiva’s chuckles.

“My apologies for startling you.”

“It’s fine!! I’m not scared or any… mmph!” 

Grimnir clamped a hand over his own mouth, in lieu of the ability to swiftly adjust his volume. Shiva would have burst into laughter had the wind primal not (rather noisily) ‘shushed’ him into silence. 

Tapping the spot next to him, Grimnir beckoned his companion to join him on the log. Shiva happily complied. 

“Did you make the fire?” - The fire primal started again in a whisper.

“Me?” - Grimnir pointed a finger at himself, incredulous that Shiva could even harbour the notion. - “No, no, no. The Singularity made it! Well… I wanted to help, but she called me a klutz and said I’d just hurt myself…” 

“Ah.” 

Shiva’s lips could not help pulling into a cheeky smile as he stole a glance of Grimnir’s sullen pout. As if mirroring some repressed urge within its master’s heart, Nagaraja coiled around Grimnir’s shoulders, giving his puffed cheek a soft peck. The gesture earned it a gentle head scratch. 

“...You don’t think I’m a klutz, too, do you?” - Grimnir mumbled, watching for Shiva’s reaction from the corner of his eye.

Even with only half of his face visible, Shiva could detect Grimnir’s signature crestfallen puppy frown in the making.

“You’re one of the most capable beings I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.” - He replied.

“R...Really!? Gee, thanks!” 

The delight shimmering in Grimnir’s eyes and colouring his cheeks was more than enough motivation for Shiva to have lied. And yet, he really had no reason to. His prowess in battle notwithstanding, Grimnir was the first primal beast Shiva had ever observed to be so comfortable being that close to his elemental weakness. At first, Shiva had thought it to be a testament to his qualification as a chosen primarch successor. But while he himself tolerated their visits to Aguste, Europa put up with long treks across deserts, and Alexiel endured the windy plains, tolerance was the full extent of their cordiality towards such circumstances. Grimnir was different - the only one in possession of some dispositional quirk that made him so affable to something that could hurt him. 

The Singularity had not been wrong in her judgment. The gratuitous bullying aside, Grimnir really could have injured himself frolicking around an open flame.

“While I have nothing but respect for your capabilities, God of war, you may go rest and leave the fire to me. There is no need for fuel so long as I am present. The fire shall burn until dawn.”

“Eh…? You can do that!? That’s so neat!” - Grimnir paused suddenly, gaze lowered to his fidgeting hands. - “Uhm… But… I’m okay with staying up!”

“Why?” - Shiva’s eyes narrowed.

“I just…” - Grimnir bit his lips. - “I… I just wanna watch the fire, okay!? It’s really cool to watch!”

A longer pause ensued.

“...You think fire is ‘cool’?”

“Y-yeah! Don’t you?” - Grimnir seemed to have finally forsaken any and all attempts to keep it down, springing to his feet. Like clockwork, he flew into the usual dramatic soliloquy - “Liquid tongues of amber in constant flux… A brilliant, primeval dance teetering on the precarious balance of genesis and extinction! Sowing life as they herald ruin… Enlightening as they beckon doom! Formless yet arresting in their transient glory! Is there anything more divine-”

“Hmmmm shaddup Grimnir…” - Djeeta’s sleepy drawl cut him short.

“Sorry!!” - Came his apologetic squeak. It was followed by Shiva’s muffled but no less amused chortles.

His enthusiasm deflated, Grimnir sank back down on his log, dragging shallow canals into the powdery ashes with an uncinched stick he just found. 

“Anyway… I just think fire is great, is all…”

“I see. How odd.” 

“Odd? How come?”

“That you would speak so highly of an element that would hurt you more than anything else. I’d dare claim to have never even heard you give the winds such praise.”

A small “ooooh” trailed from Grimnir’s lips. Chin resting snuggly in the valley between his knees, Grimnir spoke up after a while, just as Shiva assumed he had dozed off. 

“The winds are my best pals, don’t get me wrong! They help me fly, obliterate our foes, play, and even heal! But y’know, sometimes I think it’s kind of a shame you can’t really see the wind on its own… without dust or leaves or debris being kicked up around it, that is… But when you control fire, though! Oh man, one wave and a ribbon of fire goes ‘whoosh’. Another, and it bludgeons like flowers in the air! It’s so pretty. Sometimes your flames look like they’re alive, and even take on these snake-like shapes that make me think you’ve got like ten Nagaraja-s…” 

The sudden realisation that he had flown into another monologue brought Grimnir to a screeching halt, Shiva’s intent gaze being its harbinger. 

Since when exactly had Michael’s disciple started watching him like that? With such acute, undivided attention and palpable fascination? 

The full weight of his companion’s stare made Grimnir skittish, legs drawn even closer still to his chest. Wholly oblivious to his swelling restlessness, Shiva found further amusement in the way his cheeks had begun to rival the flames in their rosiness.

“So… y… yeah…!” - Grimnir tried to banish his anxiety by resuming speaking. - “Uhm… I think fire is really beautiful. Y’know, sometimes I even wish I could control it, too. Or at least, see my own winds like we can all see your fire…”

Silence once again wedged itself between them. Grimnir dared not turn back to meet Shiva’s eyes, lest he find in them the faintest speck of pity. Shiva really must have thought him childish. He must have. Why else would he be so silent after that silly little confession Grimnir just spewed? The Singularity was right, he really needed to shut up sometimes… 

A faint rustling came from Shiva’s general direction. Grimnir automatically assumed the fire primal had had enough of his nonsense and was about to head off to rest. But before he could utter a good night wish, Grimnir had found himself flanked on both sides by familiar armored thighs. 

His stomach did a barrel roll.

“Sh… Sh-sh-sh-shiva!!?”

Miraculously, Djeeta only twitched in her sleep without being roused awake this time. Not that Grimnir was in any mindset to care. He hadn’t even the capacity to process being spooned so suddenly with all the blood rushing to his face.

“Shiva… What… Eh!?”

And just as abruptly, Grimnir found both of his hands cupped in Shiva’s larger ones. The throne of warmth enveloping him felt near suffocating. His heart was playing war drums. 

“What are you-”

“Shhh. Watch.”

The moment Grimnir regained what little there had been of his composure, his eyes were blessed by the sight of the tiniest, flickering bud that seemed to have sprouted out of his own palms. From a small orange glow, it fattened into a drop of gold. To Grimnir’s utter amazement, this little shoot of fire exuded no heat. It was only as warm as Shiva himself, and remained so even as it continued to swell, spin, and unfurl into a blazing bloom as wide as his hands. 

There was no need for Shiva to ask Grimnir what he thought of the spectacle, the wind primal’s hanging jaw had said it all. The sheer wonder in Grimnir’s eyes seemed to make his own core’s temperature climb by a few degrees.

“Woah…”

“I’m glad it is to your liking.” - Shiva smiled warmly. - “How about… this, then?”

The glowing hibiscus in their hands dissolved into formless fire once more, only to mould itself into the shape of a bird. That elicited a gasp out of Grimnir.

“Awesome…!!” 

The next time he blinked, the fire in his hands had morphed into something else, and his excitement mounted with each transformation. At some point, Grimnir was practically trembling with elation in Shiva’s lap.

“This is so cool! It’s like I’m making fire!!” 

“Indeed.” - Shiva was equally pleased with the experience. 

“Oooh can we make something bigger? You know what will be awesome? A fire tree!” 

Just as Grimnir finished his sentence, a thin gust whirred down from the indigo high to curl around their bodies. Bending to his will, it dragged the little flame in their palms into a thin thread, spread it out, and sculpted it into the shape of a tree which held in the air for a few split seconds.

It was Shiva’s turn to be astonished.

“Did you… see that?” - Grimnir asked, wide-eyed himself.

Shiva nodded dumbly for a response that was totally lost on his companion. 

“I wanna do it again!”

The new bulb of fire was quickly conjured without thought. Grimnir’s eyes squeezed shut in concentration. Sure enough, the next gust of wind that came briefly pulled and stretched the fire into a bunny shape. 

“I’m… controlling… fire!”

“It seems so.” - Reality having finally sunk in, Shiva felt nothing but awe. - “You really are remarkable.”

For once praise from Shiva did not immediately set his cheeks aflame. Grimnir was too occupied with thoughts of this new game he’d just discovered.

“Again!” - Grimnir urged with childish delight.

“As you wish.” - Shiva nodded, wholly entertained as well.

Grimnir’s wind pulled the heatless fire into golden threads, spinning them into tapestries of fleeting brilliance. Woodland creatures frolicking through autumnal landscapes. Fish, whales, sharks and dolphins swam through the air amidst glittering schools of sardines. An entire dragon burst forth from their joined hands. One after another, wind and fire embroidered the night with fantastic spectacles. Wind being air in constant flux, the shapes borne of its motion only held for as long as it took one to blink. The brevity of their existence made them no less dazzling, however.

Hours went by, yet the novelty of their little light show showed no sign of abating for them both. Shiva would have been perfectly content, ecstatic, in fact, had it persisted until dawn. But he could tell from the heatless flames’ growing a little less animated by the fourth hour, from Grimnir’s weight settling against his chest more fully, that the scenario would be unlikely. 

“We gotta…” - Came Grimnir’s first yawn. - “...show this to the Singularity, girl in blue, and red dragon…”

“Indeed.”

Shiva knew the sensible thing to do now was perhaps carry the groggy Grimnir to a surface more suitable for rest. He, however, stayed frozen in place. Maybe Grimnir’s soft breaths tickling his clavicle wasn’t a circumstance in need of changing.

“Thanks, Shiva. It was really fun… I owe you a bunch, too.” - Grimnir said amidst another yawn.

“Oh? For what?” 

At Shiva’s bemusement, Grimnir craned his neck so their eyes finally met for the first time in hours. Plastered across his face was a wide, toothy grin. 

“For showing me what my wind looks like.”

Something about that display of genuine gratitude left Shiva too stunned for words. He wanted so desperately to reply, to say that he, too, was immensely thankful. But thankful for _what?_ What they had just experienced together had given him contentment exceeding that of simply being in each other’s company. Even now, the intimacy of having Grimnir in his arms could not be compared to the welcomed yet nonetheless meager joy of everyday conversation. 

But despite Shiva’s best effort to identify what it was he had been feeling, Grimnir did not wait for him to grope for adequate words. It took less than a minute for the wind primal to plunge into the depths of sleep, a steady flow of snores streaming from his sloppily opened mouth. Shiva’s mind could not conjure anything so devastatingly endearing in its gracelessness as that face. 

“Thank you…” - He whispered into Grimnir’s hair, leaving what was unspoken to dissipate with the spiraling golden dust.

**Author's Note:**

> Endless thanks to Ogata Megumi for enabling the ShivaGrim agenda, loving Grimnir as much as she does, and blessing us with two whole amazing gurachan episodes.


End file.
